Crime in Hennepin County up slightly; homicides spike in 2017

Overall crime in Hennepin County is up slightly, the Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday, with the sharpest percentage jumps coming in homicide, auto theft and business burglary.

“The good news is that violent crime is down 25 percent overall during the past 10 years,” Sheriff Rich Stanek said in a statement accompanying the release of the data. “The not-so-good news is that we have seen a slight uptick in violent crime during 2016 and 2017.”

The state’s most populous county saw a 2 percent increase from 2016 to 2017 in violent crime (homicide, rape, business robbery, robbery of person and aggravated assault).

Among those crimes, homicide was up 22 percent (46 to 56). However, that tally was 62 in 2015.

In terms of raw numbers, there were 163 more reported aggravated assaults in 2017 (3,121) than in 2016 (2,958), representing a 6 percent climb.

On the property crime side of the ledger in the county, reported offenses were up 3 percent overall, with auto theft accelerating 54 percent from 2,901 in 2016 to 4,465 last year.

Business burglaries took a sharp turn northward, rising 22 percent from 1,030 in 2016 to 1,255 in 2017.

Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.